'Absolute Garbage': 10 Terrible Tech Products You Should Never Buy, According to Consumers

We’re living through a golden age of consumer technology, an era wherein everyday consumers have access to cutting-edge laptops, smartphones, and more. 

There’s also more garbage than ever. Companies pour oodles of money into ridiculous gadgets, knockoffs abound, and some gadgets are just plain bad. In this roundup, we’ve collected some of the worst tech products around, according to a popular r/AskReddit thread.

Related: 7 Things Americans Waste Their Money On, According to Thrifty Redditors

If there’s a company to hate, it’s HP. Redditors bashed the longstanding tech company throughout the thread, dissing its printers, scanners, and computers. “Every HP device I've ever owned has been the worst device I've ever owned,” one consumer writes. Another commenter called their HP printer “dystopian” because it requires an account and internet connection to function.

Now that parents have normalized raising “iPad kids,” tech companies have started to release age-appropriate tablets. The worst of those devices is the Amazon Fire Kids, which a commenter calls a “complete piece of unintuitive, non-customizable, terrible UI garbage.” Other Amazon brand gadgets — like its Fire TV series — also drew fire, with one Redditor calling it “a piece of s***.”

Wi-Fi extenders almost always stink, so it’s no wonder why they get a shoutout in this Reddit thread. According to Consumer Reports, that’s partly because extenders go through an intermediate step to boost the Wi-Fi signal, cutting the throughput in half. Mesh routers, the publication says, are a better solution, as they only slow speeds by about 10%.

Although the Volkswagen ID.4 made our list of the cheapest electric cars on the market, you’re probably better off skipping this model, one Redditor argues. They explain that it is “the most frustrating, unreliable, dangerous piece of tech/software” they’ve ever owned. Although the Redditor doesn’t elaborate on their complaint, critics do have issues with the ID.4’s tech, with Autoblog calling it “infuriating to use.”

This HP competitor took some serious heat from one consumer who says they’ll “never, ever buy a Dell product again.” But given their experience, the harsh words seem justified. The Redditor says they bought their Dell with a repair contract that promised to replace the computer if it broke. But when they contacted Dell support, that’s not what happened. “Instead, the tech support guy tried to get me to take it apart and diagnose the hardware problem,” the Redditor writes.

Related: Why Buying a Laptop On Reddit's r/HardwareSwap Was One of the Best Financial Decisions I've Made

We’re all tired of talking about these utterly tasteless, wasteful digital collector’s items. At best they’re “money laundering tools.”

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While they might be more sustainable than traditional batteries, rechargeables are “unreliable,” dying far faster than their disposable counterparts, according to one Redditor. Still, some consumers swear by them, noting that Eneloop is the “gold standard.”

Although Samsung is a pretty reputable company, several Redditors said that its smart TVs are prone to problems, including hardware defects and poor user interfaces. One commenter even went so far as to call their Samsung TV “absolute garbage.”

This shouldn’t surprise anyone, but knockoff AirPods are “a gamble.” Some are terrible and last only six months, while a decent pair (one Redditor recommends Soundcore) is a solid frugal buy.

Looking for a fitness gadget with terrible customer service and horrible connectivity? Buy a Fitbit! “They never track properly, never connected to my phone properly (Google pixel), never charge properly,” a Redditor shares. “Just an overly expensive piece of plastic.” Buy a Garmin instead.